Friern Barnet Library reborn (again!) at noon today

I popped into Friern Barnet Library yesterday with a friend. It was great to see the library still open and the campaigners preparing for its big day today. I've just finished a long set of notes on lessons of the (ongoing) campaign to save Friern Barnet Library. I'll spare you now, but will publish snippets soon. But today I would suggest as many as possible get down to participate in what should be an historic occasion: the Occupy activists hand over to the new licensees.

Long live Friern Barnet Library!

Press release for today's events by Occupy London squatters:

Handover of keys from the squatters to the licencees and red ribbon reopening, 12 Noon Midday, Tuesday 5 February 2013

CONTACTS: Phoenix 07769 791387

Friern Barnet Library Saved – handover ceremony on Tuesday 12 Noon

On Tuesday 5th February, at midday, exactly five months since the occupation began, the community will take possession of the Friern Barnet Library.

The local community – represented by the trustees of the library - are on the verge of agreeing a two-year lease with Barnet Council (LBB) to run the library with some funding from the council.

At the ceremony, squatters and supporters of the Occupy movemnet, who have been keeping the building open and enabling the local community to run a book lending service and community centre in the building, will hand it over to the trustees of the newly formed Friern Barnet Community Library (FBCL).

They have now received a licence from LBB to be in the library for two weeks with the promise of renewal of the licence if necessary to negotiate a lease and other matters (eg, who pays the utilities insurance and ongoing future repairs). LBB has shown a willingness to amend the licence to their satisfaction.

“This is a triumph for the local community,” said, one of the trustees of the new community library. “Our library was closed in April. And we were told the building would be ‘marketed’. Now we have our library back, with council financial support. We achieved this through constant campaigning, lobbying, and building a broad alliance including squatters, activists, supporters of the Occupy movement, local residents and library campaign groups."

Housing and Squatting activist Phoenix, stated: “This campaign definitely shows the success of direct action and squatting. This is a seed of change. The whole country will soon be facing 80% of the rest of the cuts. They can take some inspiration from this direct action. We have collectively helped to save this library from the bulldozer and being sold off for development.

"We would like to see more arrangements between owners of the 1.4 million empty buildings in the UK and squatter/homeless and community groups, rather than the criminalisation being carried out by this government under the new law. A law we feel strongly is unjust, undemocratic and arbitry.

“We want to make it clear that, the activists support the National Libraries Campaign and that putting in place a paid librarian is a priority. I believe consensus has been reached with the community on this point. As it stands, the funding offered by the council does not cover a full time librarian, but as the two year lease is negotiated and plans go forward, this will be kept at the front of the conversation. The activists would like to say that we are strongly opposed to austerity and all the cuts, especially to the library service.

“We are also heavily opposed to criminalising the homeless/squatters. The extreme right of the conservative party is seeking to make squatting non-residential building also illegal. This, if it was successful, would affect all our rights to protest by occupying/squatting space, and would make successful community squat occupations such as the library campaign ILLEGAL, thus further removing our rights to shelter and protest.”

NOTES: The Friern Barnet Community Library (Ltd) has been legally incorporated in the last fortnight in response to the opportunity to negotiate a lease with the council.

The library was closed by the Council in April 2012. Community activist squatters reopened it on 3 September, as a campaign to save the library and also as a protest against the new criminalisation of the homeless and squatters by the LASPO Act 2012 (enacted on 1 September).

NB squatting in non residential buildings is still legal. For more on the threat to squatters rights by criminalising Commercial squatting: http://phoenixrainbow23.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/urgent-raise-awareness-of-early-attempt.html

The Squatters Action For Secure Homes have just launched a campaign and rapidly growing petition to repeal the LASPO Act 2012. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/44597 please sign and support.

It was the Direct Action by the squatting community and supporters of Occupy on Sept 5th 2012 that re-ignited the campaign to keep the library open.

Despite a two year campaign LBB had refused to negotiate. However at the second Possession hearing on Dec 18th Judge Pearl ordered that LBB should try and negotiate some form of licence to keep the library open, in order to protect the rights of the protesters under Articles 10 and 11 of the Human Rights Act and to preserve 'proportionality' between the rights of the protesters and the rights of the council.

It was this Direct Action combined with the placing of the building on the register as a community asset by local residents that in the end forced the council to negotiate. The supporters of Occupy also acted as caretakers looking after the building and ennabling a wide variety of events to take place in co-operation with the local community. They helped to strengthen the bonds emerging between different sections of the community so that at the meeting on Jan 29th many residents from different local groups stepped forward to thank the squatters and occupiers for their crucial help.

One local resident, Maureen Ivens, Chairwoman of the Save Friern Barnet Library group, said of all the different groups that had come together "We are here as one".

Occupy London is against the cuts and continues to support the National LIbraries Campaign and the local community in their determination to install a professional librarian.

This action by the local community in no way replaces or diminishes the responsibilty of the council and ggovernment to carry out its responsibilities under the 1964 Libraries Act.

However as a result of all the work done by an alliance of local residents, squatters, occupiers and legal advisers, the Friern Barnet Community Library (Ltd) trustees will be handed over the keys by the council for a temporary licence allowing then to keep the Friern Barnet library building open until a full two year lease is signed by both parties.

Friern Barnet Library - saved?!

After a furious few weeks of negotiations with Barnet Council - and, at times, with each other - campaigners to save Friern Barnet Library think they have got a deal of sorts to keep the library open.

A licence granted to a number of them to run a library and negotiate a longer-term solution. The press release below explains more:

The trustees of FBCL have now received an amended licence from LBB  to allow them to be in the library legally. They will have 2 weeks, with promise of renewal of licence if necessary, to negotiate a lease and other matters. LBB has shown a willingness to amend the licence to their satisfaction.

There was a meeting tonight [Thursday 31 January] at 7 pm where it was agreed that Occupy will hand over the keys to the building Tuesday 5th February 12 midday - EVERYONE WELCOME

The local residents thanked Occupy for a fantastic occupation.

Occupy encouraged Friern Barnet Community Library to continue to fight for a paid librarian and said this victory was not just about a local library but about the national campaign to save libraries everywhere.

I'm fully with Occupy on the need to keep pressing Barnet Council to provide a proper library service - in all its libraries. How it can do that when it wants to axe most of the professional librarian posts is anyone's guess.

I'm also with Occupy on what I read between the lines: that they don't trust the current Tory administration of Barnet Council an inch, and that the library will have to be defended for a good while to come.

But what has been achieved does show that campaigning works! Long live Friern Barnet Library!

Sleepover at Friern Barnet Library, 31st January

What do you do when you don't know what to do? Keep your options open.

Barnet Council seem to be stalling ahead of the intended end of the Friern Barnet Library occupation on 31st January - perhaps it's not deliberate, but inefficiency. But the question remains, will they or won't they grant a licence to the community campaigners who have stepped forward for the role?

The press release below from the Friern Barnet Library occupiers points out some of the issues at stake. If you want to support the library and are free on Thursday evening, we are invited to visit for the evening and stay the night if we can - remember, possession is 9/10 of the law! I've got my sleeping bag ready!

Press release

Plans are afoot for a sleepover and celebration on Thursday 31st January in Friern Barnet Community Library, to celebrate hopefully the saving of the Library into the future. People are asked to bring some food to share for a celebration of how far we have come and the hope of a deal.

This may be concluded soon with a handover of the keys to the Directors of Friern Barnet Community Library Ltd.

The nine Trustees (as they prefer to be called) of the newly-created Community Library, which is stocked with 10,000 volumes donated by local residents, are in negotiations with Barnet Council for a lease to run the library with the community.

The library, staffed by Occupiers/squatters and the local community, is currently open six days a week, from 11am-7pm, with many evening events.

We hope for agreement with the council and that the lease should be concluded soon and a handover to the local residents enacted.

"We are in negotiation with the council", said Jeffrey Newman, one of the nine library Trustees. "We  hope to agree a two-year licence, followed by a longer lease and a sufficient grant for initial capital expenditure to put into a professional librarian to help our volunteer pool to run the library. We are all working flat out  for a signed legal agreement with the Council.

"The sleepover celebration is being held to celebrate a win-win-win-win conclusion for the local residents, for the Council, for the occupiers, for CommUnityBarnet and for the National Libraries campaigns."

There are a number of variables in our position dependant on what the council is actually offering - more information confirmed and what the whole group decides at our Wednesday night meeting..

Many of the Occupiers, local campaigners and groups feel strongly that we require clear assurances from the council that the library will be safe in the future. (No possibility of Capita (the new Company hoping to run Barnet under the 'One Barnet' council privatisation scheme, currently under Judicial Review) selling it on to a Developer, or it still being lost to a commercial bid under the Community Right to bid).

The council has still not confirmed the exact details of the lease, we are awaiting more information before a key handover can happen.

Our weds 6.30pm main meeting will be deciding our position reference the council deal being offered, the appeal and the situation on Friday.

With all the details of the arrangement to be worked out, many in the group feel we should not hand over the building on Friday until  assurances on the level of funding the council are offering as well as many other matters are agreed. Responsibilities for the large repair costs, insurance and utilities, etc.

To push for the best deal possible for this library, but also for the National Libraries campaign, who have grave concerns over the push to low funded voluntary libraries taking over paid librarians situations. The decisions we make will reverberate nationally.

We have asked the council for a 2-3 week extension to sort the details.

Apparently the Leader Richard Cornelius has finally after numerous requests agreed to meet negotiators on Thursday.

We await tonight or tomorrow morning the Court of Appeals decision on the appeal and a stay of execution of the bailiffs, which would:

a) take the pressure off of the friday situation (possession order can be enacted on Friday 1st February);

b) could give some more weeks or months for the negotiations to get the best deal possible for all future generations of library users;

c) uphold our rights to protest (ECHR articles 10 and 11 ) in publicly owned buildings that have been closed due to the cuts. This could be a majorly significant rulling.

Journalists are invited to get in touch and possibly visit Thursdayevening/ Friday morning for the very interesting latest stage of the story of the library that would not close.

Yours, the library caretakers

NOTES:

The Friern Barnet Community Library (Ltd) has been legally incorporated in the last fortnight. Members of the Occupy London movement squatted and reopened the library, as a campaign to save the Library and also as a protest against the new criminalisation of the homeless and squatters by the LASPO Act 2012. (Enacted Sept 1st, Occupied Sept 3rd).

NB squatting in non residential buildings is still legal. However an attempt has just been launched by some on the extreme right of the Conservative Party to criminalise and make non residential building squatting also illegal - we oppose this.

This if it was successful would affect all our rights to protest by occupying/squatting space, and would make successful community squat occupations such as the library campaign ILLEGAL, thus further removing our rights to shelter and protest.
http://phoenixrainbow23.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/urgent-raise-awareness-of-early-attempt.html

The Squatters Action For Secure Homes have just launched a campaign and rapidly growing petition to repeal the unfair, undemocratic, unlawful and arbitrary LASPO Act 2012.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/44597 - please sign and support.

Occupiers have been running Friern Barnet Community Library with the community since September. The library had been closed despite strong local opposition in April last year. Negotiating the lease and accompanying grant is complicated. A "tenancy at will" is under discussion as an interim arrangement while the lease is concluded.